Philadelphia ? The Philadelphia 76ers have put themselves in a position they’ve never overcome.

The Sixers are 0-11 in the playoffs when they go down 2-0. They lost the first two games of their Eastern Conference semifinals series against Detroit, and now face a must-win in Game 3 tonight at the First Union Center.

“It’s heartbreaking because we were thinking that we could go up there and steal one from them,” forward Kenny Thomas said Friday. “The whole thing now is we have to take care of home court. I know people say we play better on the road, but home court is home court.”

After losing the series opener 98-87, Philadelphia had a chance to even it Thursday night. But Allen Iverson missed two free throws that could have iced the game with 15.1 seconds left, allowing the Pistons to tie it in regulation and win in overtime.

The odds are against the Sixers coming back. Only seven of the 162 teams in NBA history that have lost the first two games of a best-of-seven series have rallied to win. The Pistons have never blown a 2-0 lead.

“There’s nothing we can do about that now,” Sixers coach Larry Brown said. “We gave ourselves a chance to win and didn’t get it done. They made plays. We just have to figure out a way to do better.”

Detroit again might be without point guard Chauncey Billups, who sat out Game 2 because of a sprained left ankle. His status will be determined before the game. Billups, the Pistons’ leading scorer in the playoffs, was injured in Game 1. Chucky Atkins started in his spot Thursday night and scored a career playoff-high 23 points.